. -- un security council held a closed- door consultation instead. following the consultations, members heard a report from the secretary. this is 50 minutes. >> a meeting of the security council is called to order. the provisional agenda of this meeting is the situation in the middle east, including the palestinian question. the agenda is adopted. the security council will now begin its consideration of item number two of the agenda. on behalf of the council, i welcome the secretary general, his excellency, mr. ban ki-moon who is joining the conversation at via telephone conference. i now give the floor to the secretary. >> thank you, distinguished members of the council, excellencies, ladies and gentleman. thank you for the opportunity to brief you today on my three- day visit to egypt, israel, the occupied palestinian territory, and jordan. since the situation in does that and israel escalated last week, i made it my priority to contribute to halt the violence with a priority aim of protecting civilians. i canceled a previously planned trip to tra